Electronic devices typically include one or more semiconductor chips that manipulate and control the flow of data by executing instructions that are either entered by a user or read from a temporary, semi-permanent, or permanent storage area. These semiconductor chips are called processors. As the integration density of these processors increases, and the associated costs decrease, electronic devices will become increasingly pervasive in our society. Electronic devices include cellular and cordless phones, audio and video devices such as CD, DVD, and VCR units, cable boxes, automobile accessories such as global positioning systems, and other types of computer systems from small handheld personal data assistants (PDAs), to notebook systems, to large workstations and servers.
Currently these electronic devices tend to operate on different communication protocols, making it difficult for one electronic device to communicate with another. One reason why it might be found to be beneficial to have two different electronic devices communicate with one another is to quickly exchange data. For example, suppose a user has an address book electronically stored in a computer system, and the user wants to download the address book to their cellular phone so that names and numbers can be quickly called up and dialed from the phone. If the computer system cannot communicate with the cellular phone, the user may need to resort to entering each name and number from their address book into their cellular phone by hand.
The present invention addresses this and other problems associated with the prior art.